New York and San Francisco have long lured entrepreneurs ready to launch their startups. However, the costs associated with setting up shop in those cities are astronomical. The average commercial rent in these cities is $80.00 per square feet per year. If most of your capital is spent trying to make rent, well, San Francisco and New York start looking a lot less attractive.

Are there equally appealing cities that are cheaper? Indeed, FitSmallBusiness.com, the digital business publication, researched and analyzed 41 of the largest metropolitan areas and hottest startup cities to help the budding entrepreneur choose the best one to start a business. The publication analyzed the merits of each city using data compiled from the U.S. Census Bureau, Startup Genome, and CBRE Group to provide you with the full definitive list found HERE.

TOP CITIES FOR STARTUPS THAT ARE NOT SAN FRANCISCO OR NEW YORK

1Atlanta

2Seattle

3Chicago

4Boston

5Dallas

6San Diego

7Minneapolis

8Austin

9Los Angeles

10Philadelphia

Methodology

FitSmallBusiness.combased its ranking of the best startup cities on eight metrics, and assigned the following weights for each category based on the category's importance: